The Lord of the Tournament presents to the Queen of Beauty as victor. The Duchess was the Queen of Beauty at the Eglinton Tournament in 1839
Sister to Helen Blackwood and Lady Stirling Maxwell, Jane Georgiana Seymour nee Sheridan, was considered the beauty of the “Three Graces.” Beyond her beauty, including being named as the Queen of Beauty at the Eglinton Tournament, Jane was also somewhat famous for trying, unsuccessfully, to introduce guinea pigs to English cuisine. Throughout the late Regency and early Victorian era, the Duchesses’ ensembles would be widely reported in the newspapers, descriptions of her lavish clothing appearing alongside the fashions of other ladies:
Morning Herald (London) – Friday 03 May 1839
I also found an article of The Duchess using the newspaper to give thanks to a hero, in much the same way people use social media today to reward heroic acts:
Inverness Courier – Wednesday 23 October 1844
Described as a forceful and ambitious, happy to be in the limelight, Jane was once said by the Queen to be not liked because she would say “such odd things” (The Queen of Beauty: Jane Georgiana Seymour Duchess of Somerset | Love British History).
Married to Lord Edward Seymour at the age of twenty, in 1830, they would go on to have two sons and three daughters. She would pass at the age of 75.
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